The Detainees

Afghans Freed From Guantánamo Bay Speak of Heat and Isolation

By DAVID ROHDE

Published: October 29, 2002

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 28 — Three members of the first group of prisoners to be freed from indefinite, secret detention at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba complained tonight that prisoners are locked for days at a time in sweltering 8-by-8-foot cells and are denied contact with their families.

They also said that dozens of low-level Taliban foot soldiers and Afghans are imprisoned on the island.

Two of the three Afghan men turned over to Afghan officials appeared to be in their 70's. Both had been held by American officials in secret detention in Guantánamo Bay. A Pakistani man who was handed over to Pakistani officials yesterday was said to be in his 50's.

In an interview tonight, the three Afghans said they were not tortured or abused by their American interrogators, but that the prospect of being trapped in endless isolation wore away at them. Jan Muhammad, one of the Afghan prisoners, said that he was completely cut off from the outside world for 11 months and did not receive a letter from his family until three days before his release.

"I wrote a letter to my family that said, `I'm half an animal now,' " he said. " `After a month I'll be a full animal and then I'll come back.' "

The men's accounts could not be corroborated tonight. American officials said that the men had been released after it was determined that they did not pose a security threat.

Mr. Muhammad and the other men criticized the methods the United States has used to determine who will be sent to Guantánamo Bay, accusing American officials of relying too much on faulty information provided by Afghan warlords. Over the last year, some warlords have been accused of providing faulty information, leading to American bombing raids that killed dozens of Afghan civilians.

At the Pentagon today, the department's spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke, declined to identify the detainees by name or nationality, even after Afghanistan and Pakistan said they were receiving repatriated prisoners. "We've said all along, we have no desire to hold large numbers of these people for a long period of time," Ms. Clarke said.

"If we can go through all those factors, determine someone doesn't have intelligence value, is not a real threat to the United States or our friends or allies, and we think there will be a proper handling on the other end, then we'd like to get rid of some of these people. So we're working a lot of those issues with countries, but it takes time."

In both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the issue of the detainees is fueling accusations of American heavy-handedness. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is being pressured to speed the release of dozens of prisoners whom Afghans say have been wrongly arrested. A team of Pakistani interrogators who visited Guantánamo this summer declared that that nearly all of the 53 Pakistanis held there were low-level foot soldiers who should be released.

Mr. Muhammad said he is still mystified about how he ended up at Guantánamo. He concedes that he fought with the Taliban around Kunduz, but said he had no choice — Taliban soldiers conscripted him.

Mr. Muhammad, who gave his age as about 35, said that after he surrendered, soldiers loyal to the Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum falsely told American soldiers that he and nine other prisoners were senior Taliban officials.

"They came and took 10 strong-looking people," said Mr. Muhammad, a stocky, barrel-chested man. "Only one of those 10 was a Talib."

Mr. Muhammad, if his story is to be believed, was a victim of circumstances. The arrests of his compatriots, a senior Afghan official said tonight, was laughable.

One of them, Faiz Muhammad, said he was 105. Babbling at times like a child, the partially deaf, shriveled old man was unable to answer simple questions. He struggled to complete sentences and strained to hear words that were shouted at him. His faded mind kept failing him.

First he said that American soldiers took him away 12 months ago. Then he said he was 5 years old during the rule of the Afghan King Amanullah, which would make him at least 78, and that he spent 8 months in an American prison.

He was asked if he was angry at the American soldiers who arrested him. "I don't mind," he said, his face brightening. "They took my old clothes and gave me new clothes."

The second Afghan man released yesterday said he was 90 years old and gave his name as Muhammad Siddiq. A wizened old man with a cane, Mr. Siddiq said that American soldiers had arrested him in a raid on his village in Paktia Province. He then said "enough questions," declined to speak further and stared impassively out the window.

Afghan officials confirmed that the three men, who were still under guard tonight, were the newly released prisoners. The younger Mr. Muhammad still wore a bracelet that identified him as a Guantánamo Bay prisoner, and all three wore thick new American-made cotton sweatsuits and socks. They showed off bottles of medication, copies of the Koran and small American flag arm patches given to them by their jailers.

Mr. Muhammad complained of being locked in the 8- by 8-foot cells 24 hours a day, with only two 15-minute-breaks a week for exercise. He described temperatures in the containers, which had fans but no air conditioning, as stifling.

He said photographs showing blindfolded and chained prisoners depicted the screening process prisoners went through when they first arrived. Mr. Muhammad did not complain about the food or medical care, and he praised his American guards for respecting his religion. "When we were standing for praying they were walking very slowly to not disturb us," he said.

The only confrontation he heard of at the prison was when an Arab prisoner threw water on a visiting American general. He said the general did not retaliate. But he maintained that he received his first and only Red Cross message from his family three days before he was flown out of Cuba. The message, which he produced tonight, was stamped "June 28, 2002.

Pentagon officials said that at same time that the four detainees were leaving Guantánamo, about 30 new detainees were flown in, bringing the total number there to about 625. It was the first new batch of prisoners since Aug. 5. "We think it's likely there will be more detainees," Ms. Clarke said.

Mr. Muhammad conceded that everyone in Guantánamo claims they are innocent, but insisted that some of the claims are real.

"Tell the Americans there are three kinds of people in Guantánamo," he said, as he sat between the two elderly men. "One is the real fighters, the others were forced to fight and the third group is like these guys."